Rob Goodspeed's blog

“… Borders’s employees negotiated for a year to get a fair contract, and it was only after they went on strike that they achieved their demands — even though Borders had said it was impossible. The Graduate Employees’ Organization negotiated with the University to no resolution for months, until they forced the issue and held a one-day walk out — a week later they had a contract with childcare. The University belongs to the Worker Rights Consortium and has a code of conduct that helps to ensure fair labor practices not because the University wanted to sign on or because students asked nicely for it. Instead, after being rebuffed by the University in negotiations, Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality started a sit-in and demanded that the University do it. The racist secret society Michigamua was forced out of the Michigan Union and made to change some of their rituals not because of students’ repeated requests, but because a coalition of students engaged in a 37 day sit-in and forced the University to act correctly.

The University will respond to demands and direct action and it really doesn’t matter if they like to or not. This Thursday, after nearly a year of weekly negotiations, the Lecturers’ Employee Organization plans to stage a one-day walk out. This action is not rash, radical or reactionary. It is a thoughtful escalation of tactics that is only necessary because the University has continuously stalled and refuses to budge on several key LEO demands — among them that the University pay lecturers with doctorates more than untrained middle school teachers with no advanced degrees. … “